WO 2009/018615 describes a hinge including a mechanical biasing element (e.g. a spring) and a plurality of magnetic elements which bias and retain hinge members in a retained (e.g. closed) position. The magnetic elements of the hinge were configured to have an overlapping arrangement in the closed position. In particular, a first hinge member included a first magnetic element housed within the front hinge plate of the first hinge member which was located in front of the panel. The front hinge plate accommodating the first magnetic element overlapped at least a portion a tongue component of the second hinge member, wherein the tongue component housed a second magnetic element.
As the hinge was primarily designed for gates and showers which have a relatively significant weight, the first and second magnetic elements were required to provide a sufficient magnetic strength to bias the hinge toward the closed position, particularly when the spring may have suffered from mechanical wear and was unable to provide sufficient force to bias the hinge to the closed position.
Furthermore, dampeners were introduced into the hinge to control the closing action of the hinge. The dampeners were orientated orthogonally relative to the plane of the hinge members. The overlapping portion of the hinge would contact a protruding portion of the dampener when the hinge had nearly progressed to the closed position and would slowly retract until the hinge progressed to the closed position. However, despite the introduction of dampeners, structures such as glass panels of gates and shower doors could undergo significant vibration once the hinge progressed to the closed position. In particular, the structure would vibrate in a direction orthogonal to the plane of the glass panel of the structure. Over time, the vibration could lead to mechanical wear of the structure.
Furthermore, due to the dampeners being orientated orthogonally, the overall thickness of the hinge was relatively large to accommodate the dampeners which led to high manufacturing costs.
Furthermore, the requirement for magnets of sufficient strength led to the magnetic elements requiring a relatively large amount of space to be located within the hinge. The front hinge plate was designed to be relatively thick to accommodate the first magnetic element which had to have a sufficient size to bias the hinge toward the closed position. Furthermore, due to the first magnetic element being located adjacent an outer face of the panel, the thickness of the first hinge member was accentuated. The front hinge plate of the second hinge member was also designed to have the same thickness as the front hinge plate of the first hinge member in order to be flush in the closed position. The tongue component of the second hinge member needed to bear a considerable amount of the weight of the hinged panel which therefore required a substantial amount of material to accommodate for such forces. However, as the tongue component also needed to include a relatively deep cavity to accommodate the second magnetic element having a sufficient size to bias the hinge toward the closed position, the tongue component was relatively thick.
Whilst the hinge worked well to overcome problems associated with mechanical wear experienced by torsional springs in self closing hinges, new problems arose in relation to the panels of the hinged structure undergoing vibration after closing and the physical spatial constraints dictated by the size of the overlapping magnetic elements resulting in high manufacturing costs due to the amount of steel that was required to construct the hinge.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome or alleviate one or more of the above-mentioned problems or provide a commercial alternative.
The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that the prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.